Africa

Liberia's opposition

Seeking its destiny

IN NOVEMBER last year, Liberians went to the polls for the second time since the end of their civil war in 2003. After the first round of voting, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), the main opposition party, said that the results were fraudulent. And so it called upon voters to stay away at the next round.

At a rally in Monrovia championing the boycott, police killed one demonstrator and wounded eight others. Voter turnout was low the following day, probably, said the International Crisis Group, because people were afraid. The incumbent, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, claimed a landslide victory with over 90% of the vote.

On Wednesday November 7 members of the CDC gathered to commemorate the death of Mamadee Kromah, the young man killed a year ago. Outside the party’s headquarters hung a banner showing photographs of Kromah's dead body, covered in blood. After weeks of wrangling with the ministry of justice over whether the CDC would be allowed to hold the memorial at all, around 2,000 attended. Few police were present and those that were went unarmed. George Weah, the CDC’s leader, gave a muffled address from Florida via mobile phone. Young men and women stood on a sandy football pitch, their hands raised, roaring their support. The party’s chaplain spoke dramatically of its "divine destiny" in the elections in 2017.

What really lies ahead for the CDC? It gained little from last year’s boycott. Its secretary general, Nathaniel McGill, says that Mr Weah will probably run for the senate in 2014. But political analysts say that victory will be an uphill struggle. People worry about infighting, says Abdullai Kamara of the Center for Media Studies and Peace Building, and about the CDC coming under the influence of the ruling party. Mr Weah will need to allow the party to function as a political movement, "not as a private organisation", continues Mr Kamara. Until policies trump personalities, the CDC will struggle to fulfil its destiny.